Love, lies and deceit
by Zeldamac1
Summary: After the inception everybody takes a break. Cobb thinks he is safe with his kids and Ariadne finds more about her past whilst browning lurks in the shadows, but for how long?...
1. Chapter 1

It had been three months since the inception. Ariadne felt particularly relieved that they had been successful, but also sad that it had ended so quickly. She had been staying at her grandmothers for the last two weeks. The school had taken two weeks off for a holiday. Ariadne was due to leave then next day. After the inception (even though she had been paid quite handsomely), Ariadne took up a job from one of her regular cafe. Who knew being by herself in a big, new apartment with the money to buy almost anything could be so lonely.

After getting back from the airport she had found herself feeling rather lonely. Arthur had told her on the plain that they wouldn't be seeing one another for quite some time. At first Ariadne was confused, but when she thought about it, it made sense. Arthur had talked about doing some damage control, plus who knew when they would get there next job.

Ariadne was sitting in her grandmothers sun lounge. The golden light was hitting her paper perfectly. Ariadne was in the process of finishing a particularly good maze. She had based on a busy market. Ariadne imagined hundreds of people bargaining money for a cheaper bit of silk. She had also added in new, more complex paradoxes. She thought that Arthur would be impressed with her when he saw the paradoxes. She imagined him giving her one of his half smiles that never failed to make her feel that little bit warmer inside.

Ariadne's hand had started to ache so she decided to take a walk and gather her thoughts. She found herself wondering when Eames or Arthur would call and tell her they had another job to do. She found herself thinking back to when they had landed after the successful inception.

After they landed in the U.S.A, Ariadne had been taking quick glances over to Cobb. She tried not to be too obvious, but she had to see for herself if Saito had come through with his promise. She could tell her fellow associates were anxious to see what would happen as well.

You could feel the tension in the air. As Cobb got the approving nod from the man at the desk the whole room felt a wash of relief.

Ariadne had said her goodbyes on the plane to Cobb, Saito, Yusurf and Eames. She had saved Arthur for last. Even though she knew she would have to say goodbye to Arthur in the end. But she just wanted another few moments before she had to leave him for god only knew how long.

"Goodbye Arthur." Ariadne said as she leaned in for a hug. She had never been someone to hug, but she just couldn't hold the urge not to. After the sly kiss he had given her in the dream, most of her thoughts related to Arthur. For a brief she wished he would someday repeat that line to her.

Arthur retuned the hug almost imminently. To Ariadne's dismay the hug only lasted about two seconds. Arthur gave her a half smile that instantly made up for the short hug. He then handed her a slip of paper.

"It has my number on it, if you need me or there is an emergency don't hesitate to call." He said.

Ariadne took the slip of paper, glanced at it for a second before shoving it in her pocket. She nodded to him as the flight attendant motioned them to exit the plan. Just before they exited Arthur turned to face Ariadne.

"It's unpredictable as to when we will meet again. It will take some time to make sure are tracks are covered. But after that work shouldn't be too hard to find. That is if you still want to be are architect?" He added.

I gave him a quizzical look. "Of course I do. Designing dreams, using pure creation. That all I ever want to do." She assured.

Arthur just half smiled and gave and approving look before continuing off the plain.

Ariadne grabbed hold of her totem. She twirled it in her hands a couple of times before shoving it back into her pocket. She wasn't completely sure what she felt for Arthur. She had convinced herself that it was just a crush. But if it was why had it not gone away yet?


	2. Chapter 2

**Ok so this is chapter two. Please tell me what you think. I was in a car journey for 7 houses and this all i could do to entertain myself! Hope you enjoy!**

Eames POV

Eames had been traveling for the past few months. Never staying more than a week or two in one place. Most of his time was spent a the bar or casino.

It was late one night when Eames was down to his last chip. Twirling it in his fingers for a second before leaving the table. He was board. He had missed working with Cobb and Ariadne. Even that stick in the mud Arthur.

Eames went strait to the bar and grabbed himself a scotch. He was deep in thought not even noticing when the empty spot next to him was taken.

"Had enough gambling?" A voice asked.

Eames flicked his head around to see Arthur buying a second drink for them both. This made Eames wonder how long Arthur had been sitting there.

"Darling, you can never have enough of gambling." Eames replied. Arthur gave one of his half smiles and looked away.

"I have got us a new job. We will be going over to china to talk to a rich businessman about his son. I will explain the details on the flight." Arthur explained.

Eames simply nodded. "And Ariadne?" He asked. As soon as Ariadne's name left Eame's lip he could swear that Arthur's jaw tightened. But what ever he may or may not have seen was now nonexistent.

"I have arranged a flight to Paris for you tomorrow morning." Arthur explained. Sliding over a plane ticket to Eames.

"Your not coming? What are you doing?" Eames asked. He was surprised that Arthur wasn't jumping through hoops to see Ariadne. Eames knew he fancied her and vice versa for Ariadne. It was such a pain to wait until one of them admitted it to the other.

"I have just got a few jobs to take care of." Arthur said quite plainly. This annoyed Eames. Arthur had always been short with everyone. But he knew by now that what ever "jobs" Arthur was doing he wouldn't finding out anytime soon.

The next day Eames was in Paris. He didn't wast anytime getting to Ariadne's apartment. He had missed Ariadne. From the moment Eames had met Ariadne, she had reminded him of his mother. To him she just gave off that motherly vibe.

Eames had lost his mother only two years ago. Since then he had had a hole in his heart that nobody could heal. Meeting Ariadne however had slowly started to heal the hole in his heart. When he had first met her, he had to admit she was cute. But anyone could plainly see that it was Arthur she had her eyes on. But as Ariadne and Eames had became more friendly with each other, Eames noticed how kind and caring she was. Her personality matched his mothers perfectly.

When Eames had got to the penthouse of the building he stopped at the

door. There was a note tapped to it with Ariadne's slanted, italic writing on it.

Hello, sorry I'm not here at the moment. I have gone to visit my grandmothers and won't be back until April 20th.

Eames gave a low grunt. The paper on the door also had her phone number and her grandmothers. The upside was that she would be back today. But Eames being Eames wasn't just going to wait in the Hallway for her.

He looked around making sure there wasn't anyone there. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a coil of wire. A minuet or two later Eames had the door open. He made himself comfy and waited for Ariadne's return.

Ariadne POV

Once Ariadne had said her goodbye to her grandmother. She hailed a taxi to the airport. It was about half past nine when the plane finally took off.

Ariadne was in first class. Since the inception, Ariadne had never experience first class of anything. She wasn't exactly living in poverty. She still had the money her parents had left to her when they died.

Xxxxxxxxxxxx

Ariadne wasn't that old when her parents had died. She must of been only thirteen when she lost them. They had been living France with her mother and father and her grandmother had moved to England. Her parents had been off on business. Her parents where also architects. They had left Ariadne with her grandmothers.

The day their plane was due to land, Ariadne sat waiting in the airport. She had waited and waited. The plane was over an hour late. Ariadne had had eyes fixed into the sky for any sign of a plane. When she had received the news that the plane had crashed into the sea and there were no survivors something in her broken. It was like her heart had snapped. She couldn't cry. When her grandmother tried to comfort her she just pushed her away. She had spent the whole night just looking into the sky. Looking for a plane that would never come.

Xxxxxxxxxxxx

Ariadne shot open her eyes. Sitting up in her chair she looked around. She was on the plain. She had been dreaming about her parents. It had been along time since she had even had a proper dream.

A bell chimed thorough the cabin. "Good afternoon passengers. We will be arriving in Paris in a short while. So please switch off all electronics and fasten you seat belts." A chirpy women's voice said.

When Ariadne had got to her apartment she realised just how tired she was. Her sleep on the plane had somehow made her even more tired. She was so tried that she didn't even notice any difference to her door.

She slung her suitcase and bag onto the sofa, then proceeded to collapses into a heap on to the sofa.

"You know, it's not polite to keep your guests waiting." A voice chimed from behind Ariadne. Ariadne spun around. Her heart thumping so hard she thought it might break though her chest. She instantly calmed when She saw Eames stepping out from the kitchen with two cups of coffee. She then wondered how she hadn't heard him when she came in.

"Eames! How the hell did you get in!?" Ariadne yelled. She was so frustrated yet she tried her very hardest to hide her glee that he was here.

Eames simply gave her a cocky grin. "Come on darling. Don't tell me you not happy to see me." Eames said as he gave his best puppy dog look.

Ariadne couldn't hold it in any longer. She let a small smile slip from her mouth. Eames returned the smile and walked over to Ariadne. They embraced each other like it had been years since they had seen each other, not months.

Ariadne looked behind Eames. She felt a bit of her spirits drop when she didn't see Arthur's face. "So, um, where is Arthur?" Ariadne asked. She tried hard not to let Eames see her disappointment. But somehow she knew he had sensed her disappointment.

"Don't worry he's coming tomorrow. He said we got a job with a some rich man in china." Eames explained.

A sparkel of happiness ran thorough Ariadne's face. "Oh, that's great, we have a job. Hey! I wasn't worrying!" Ariadne snapped back.

Eames laughed before falling onto the couch. "Year right!" He chuckled.

The rest of the night was spent chatting about what each other had got up to in the past three months. Ariadne tried to keep her questions about Arthur to a minimum. Ariadne had packed her clothes for her trip to china. The rest of the nigh was spent with the two of them slumped on the couch with chines food and a classic movie playing in the background.

Ariadne had realised how much she had really missed her friends. She never wanted to loose this.


	3. Chapter 3

**Hello! So here is chapter three! Please review and tell me what you think**. **If you think it needs looked over again please tell me and I will try and sort it out. But for now enjoy!**

After Eames had left the bar, Arthur had stayed on for one last drink. He would need to leave for the airport soon.

He was catching a later fight to Paris. But before he went there was one bit work he had to do. True he was secretly grateful that he didn't have to face Ariadne. They hadn't seen each other since the inception. He would also be lying if he said that he wasn't a little disappointed that Ariadne hadn't called him.

Arthur had been working on there next job. A rich electrician company owner who was unsure about where his sons loyalties lay. The job was easy and could be done quickly. All Arthur had to do was get a quick background check on the son and father, then he could go to Paris.

Arthur had gone back to his hotel room and opened his laptop. It had been a few hours when his watch began to beep. He looked at the time. He sprung out of his seat. It was almost time for the plane to leave. He quickly printed out the pages of paper he had got on Mr Chen and his son. He would read them on the plane.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

When Arthur had finally got on the plane, he pulled out the sheets he printed off. Most of it wasn't really relevant. He was just about call it quits when his eye caught the name Mrs Alice and Mr Martin Croft. Croft. Ariadne's last name was Croft. It looked like an article out of a news paper. Arthur read more.

_"The couple architects Mrs Alice and Mr Martin Croft have been announced died in the plane crash coming from Hong Kong, China to France. This couple was well know to many in the architecture world. They were know to be associated with Chen limited. Designing many building for the Chen family." _

Arthur only scammed the article but got the gist of it. They couldn't really be Ariadne's parents. But to be fair Ariadne had never spoken of her family. He didn't even know if she had any family that was still alive. But what was more curious was that they where associated with the Chen family. Somehow, Arthur didn't seem to believe that they where just architects who designed some building for a rich businessman.

Thankfully the plane that Arthur was on had wifi. He had decided to look into the plane crash, Mr and Mrs Croft and Mr Chen's business.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Once Arthur landed in Paris, he went strait to Ariadne's apartment. He thought that she would be happy to see him after all this time, he knocked on the door and waited. Nothing. He opened the door to find Eames and Ariadne nestled together on her couch. He instantly felt anger and hurt. What was going on? Had this been going on for a while? Arthur felt somewhat betrayed. He wasn't sure why though. It wasn't like Ariadne belonged to him, but he just couldn't believe what he was seeing.

Arthur cleared his throat. Ariadne's eyes flitted open instantly. She blinked her eyes a few times before she found Arthur. A wide grin spread across her face as she left off the couch. She walked (or rather speed walked) over to Arthur and wrapped her arms around him.

Arthur was quite taken back. He thought that she would at least apologise to him about what he had just seen. Nether the less he returned the hug. He would be the perfect gentleman as he always was. He was just going to have to get used to Ariadne and Eames . But still his insides burned with jealousy. The only upside was that he could keep his emotions inside. The last thing he wanted was to make Ariadne upset.

Eames slowly opened his eyes and looked around. When his eyes fell on Arthur he smiled and waved his hand.

"Taken care of your jobs then?" He announced.

Again Arthur was taken back by the fact that Eames showed no guilt. Eames had usually taken great pleasure teasing Arthur about the kiss he and Ariadne had shared. But again he would not bring it up Eames had as much right to Ariadne as he did.

"Yes." Arthur answered plainly. It was at that moment Arthur remembered what he had read. All his jealousy had died down now. He was in serious mode. He turned to Ariadne. "Ariadne, your parents. Where their names Mrs Alice and Mr Martin Croft?" He asked.

Ariadne froze. She hadn't expected Arthur say something like that. He had never asked her about her family. No one had. All Ariadne could do was nod. Arthur looked worried at her answer. He rubbed his hand over his jaw.

This was bad. On the plane Arthur had found out a great deal. It would of all been fine if the Mr and Mrs croft hadn't been Ariadne's parents.

"Arthur, whats all this about?" Eames enquired.

Arthur then proceeded to tell them what he had read. Ariadne then told both Eames and Arthur of how her parents had gone on a business trip to China and had been involved in a plane crash. Ariadne had had no idea that her parents had been involved with dream sharing.

"What I don't get is why this is a problem." Eames asked.

Arthur looked sad at this moment. What he hadn't mentioned the fact that the Chen limited was an electrical company that was associated with Fisher's company. But what was really important was that Browning was working with him at the time Ariadne's parents were killed.

"Browning was working with Chen at the time your parents died." Arthur said to Ariadne. "That plane crash wasn't an accident." He added.

"I don't understand. What are you saying Arthur?" Ariadne asked in an extremely serious tone. She was determined to find out more about her parents.

"Well, I looked into everything I could. Basically Mr Chen isn't new to the whole extraction business. And neither are your parents. They where both architects that designed dream mazes. Browning was working with Chen at this point in time. Fishers father had sent Browning to help expand there company in China." Arthur said. He allowed Ariadne to let the information sink in before continuing.

"Your parents had been part of an extraction team. They had been called in by Browning to help out the business. Browning was basically looking to do extraction with the leading rival electrical company in China. He was wanted your parents team to find and extract secrets that could be used against the electrical company. To cut to the chase, something when badly wrong with the extraction. The extraction team wouldn't give up what they had found out and they where all killed on their privet plane when flying back to France." Arthur finished.

"So...Browning killed my parents." Ariadne spat. Arthur had never seen the pure hatred in Ariadne's eyes.


End file.
